Vampire Survivors is a minimalistic top-down roguelite horde destroyer, where you pick a character, select a level, and kill potentially hundreds of thousands of enemies in a cacophony of explosions and magic sparkles through almost seizure-inducing visual noise. I absolutely love it.
It was originally released on December 17th, 2021, and has been receiving fairly frequent updates since, with a brand new DLC released on December 15th, 2022. Poncle is the main developer, and you might be unsurprised to know that prior to this little number of theirs, they worked extensively on slot-type games… This explains why there are finely-tuned dopamine explosions going on in my brain when I’m playing this.
I’m reviewing this because I ultimately recommend it! And am doing so after I 100%’d the base game and its achievements. I bought Vampire Survivors on a whim (I mean, it’s only like $5 bucks), and I was glued until there was nothing left to do, so I’d say that’s a pretty good recommendation from me right off the bat, but let’s go a little deeper.
Gameplay
I haven’t really played anything quite like this, but a decent comparison is if you turned Risk of Rain 2 into a top-down pancake, you’d be pretty close. It has all the elements of a roguelite; you enter a stage, are presented with options to power your character up until you win or die, and as you play you earn currency that can be used outside of the general gameplay to permanently unlock more ways to play.
On paper, Vampire Survivors should actually sound pretty boring, because most of the game is automated. You don’t have to press an attack or ability button, those are done for you at fixed intervals. Most of the enemies will just systematically move toward you, perhaps to their death. The only input from you as the player is… moving. To collect XP gems to level up, and occasionally avoid enemies. You’ll also need to navigate level-up menus to select your desired weapon or item upgrade… But that’s it! In a lot of ways, I could see this being just one step above Cookie Clicker. You definitely need to pay attention to win but it’s still very passive, and if I’m being honest, it’s kind of shallow.
Though, don’t write it off yet because the real draw to Vampire Survivors is definitely within the systems they have in place and the element of discovery that goes along with it… there are many weapons, items, and artifacts to find, and you’ll discover early on that weapons will evolve with certain combinations of items. Some evolve with other weapons. Finding these combinations when you’re just starting to play is really fun, and a large reason why I came back to play at all. Finding an evolution for a weapon, then realizing it’s helping me kill HUNDREDS of enemies per SECOND with glorious visual flair… now… that’s satisfying. After that first one, I was like, “all right now I NEED to see what the rest of these are.”
It’s also incredibly approachable because of the level timer. Starting out, they restrict you to playing on each level for 30 minutes at a time. Which doesn’t sound like that long right? Easy to fit that in-between other games you’re playing. But maybe you die at the 20-minute mark. “Ah, I was almost there,” you’ll tell yourself. “I’ll just try that again.” And maybe the next time you make it to 25 minutes. Then you finally make it to the 30-minute mark. So now you’ve been playing for an hour and fifteen minutes and a new stage opens up and welp, you just gotta see what that level has in store for you… it’s a deep rabbit hole! And it’s paced very well, to the point where you always feel like you’re progressing towards the next unlock, and there’s always something to help the game not feel stale.
I should mention that once you’re comfortable knowing what all the weapons and evolutions are, you can start paying attention to the damage per second, or DPS of each weapon and weapon evolution, and you can really get into optimizing your character by carefully selecting what weapons and items you want, when you want them, and more to become virtually unkillable… even in endless mode (which becomes an option later on). This sounds tedious and you might not consciously do it, but the truth is, after playing so many times, you’ll learn what works for you. The gameplay won’t change… but you’ll be smarter and more thoughtful about your choices. Beating the game after you have an understanding of everything is a no-brainer, even on the harder difficulties. But again to reiterate, the path to that point is excellently paced and very well done.
In short, while the gameplay is pretty shallow, the several layered systems of collecting items, artifacts, characters, weapons, and more, combined with the fun weapon evolution system make exploring the stages and playing the game feel really fun and make it absolutely addicting.
Narrative and World Building
Is there a narrative? Maybe. I think it’s about people surviving a vampire apocalypse, but you could guess as much from the title. The truth is, I didn’t really care too much about the narrative or the world-building. There are descriptions for items, and for enemies, and there is a loose narrative that kind of unfolds in a linear fashion as you collect artifacts from stages and unlock new things to do… But it was never really something I felt needed my attention. The “gameplay” was enough to sell me on my many returns. The world-building rides a similar line. Everything feels cohesive enough… there are some enemy designs that feel a bit out of place, though it’s not distracting from the overall experience…
I will make a note that the finale to this game… after you find pretty much everything… there is a “final boss” of sorts and the visual spectacle of that moment is beyond incredible. If you don’t get the “Greatest Jubilee” achievement that comes from witnessing it… You are missing out! I highly recommend getting to that point, even if you have to look up what to do next to unlock it. The best advice I have is once you unlock something (a stage, a game mode), play that thing until you unlock the next thing. It is very much worth making it to the end to witness that visual spectacle. I guess you could just YouTube it… but still. Was perfect. Beautiful sequence.
Visuals and Performance
I ran this on my RTX 3070 + Ryzen 7 for most of the time and spent some time with it on Steam Deck as well. I didn’t run into any performance issues on either system. Well. There was one time I was doing an endless run, and I let the game sit for about 3 hours on my desktop. I came back and it was very sluggish. Probably had something to do with the sheer mass of gems and chests on the screen. It’s not really optimized for those truly endless runs I suppose. But, in general gameplay, never had issues.
Visually it’s not very stunning at first. Characters and enemies have basic “moving” animations, and beyond that everything kinda slides around on the screen… but once you start getting some of those evolved weapons, you start seeing these explosions everywhere, particles going haywire, knives simply exploding out of your character’s model faster than the speed of light… something very funny about that, makes it interesting, charming even. It’s the visual noise gamer equivalent to audio visualizers and I ain’t even mad.
Audio Design
Speaking of audio, the sounds in here are pretty good. Again, once you hit a certain level, the cacophony of explosions and magic sparkles can be a bit overwhelming, but it could definitely be worse. It could probably also be better. But I never found myself in the settings to tweak any of that.
The music on display here is pretty good. I did in fact get the game bundled with the soundtrack (because it was so dang cheap), but the truth is that I haven’t actually dove into the soundtrack outside of playing the game at all. It definitely services the game and helps to establish the “gothic horror” mood that the game is trying to vibe with, and I think helps to mask some of the craziness of the weapons to a certain degree. I particularly thought that the music in the finale did an exceptional job setting the cataclysmic mood there, but beyond that example, nothing really jumps out at me. Subtle and serviceable. Can’t ask for much more than that on an indie project!
Other Tidbits
Wasn’t sure where to say this, but for a game where the UI is very important to its core loop, it’s done really well. The text is legible with a good font, the selections make sense, and it scaled well to whatever screen size I had. It was also all pretty unified, which was nice, and I particularly enjoyed how pretty much everything was accessible right from the main menu screen.
It plays well on a controller as well as on a mouse and keyboard, though some weapons definitely favor playing with a controller. Not enough to make me want to plug one into my computer though. The game is simple enough that I didn’t feel the need to change any of the default control schemes or anything. Haven’t tried the new mobile port and I don’t plan to, but I can’t imagine the experience being too bad on a touchscreen because of its simplicity.
Conclusion
Ultimately, I consider this to be a Name Brand product, and I strongly recommend it! If you’ve spent time in idle games, or are perhaps drawn to roguelites or upgrade trees, and enjoy discovering weapons and abilities in those types of gaming experiences, this could very well be up your alley.
As I mentioned earlier, the biggest draw to this game is definitely its mechanics and the underlying “discover how to make larger numbers and explosions”, more so than the actual gameplay itself, which is probably the weakest thing about it, next to perhaps some bland animations and enemies.
I spent 49.3 hours in the game, which is an incredible amount for the price I spent, which was $6.99. This amount of time also includes how long it took me to get 100% of the (base game) achievements. When I got the last achievement, I did kind of see that as the end of my journey with the game, though now I can’t help but be interested in the $2 DLC that just released, so I’ll probably be jumping in once again to experience all it has to offer. Will definitely be looking to snag the achievements there, and I’ll post a follow-up review if I go through that.
But even without the DLC, the replayability value is insane as it stands, and I have really enjoyed my time with it. If you’re on the fence, I definitely recommend giving it a try, especially now that it’s more accessible than ever with its recently released mobile port.
Okay, thanks, and goodbye.
It was originally released on December 17th, 2021, and has been receiving fairly frequent updates since, with a brand new DLC released on December 15th, 2022. Poncle is the main developer, and you might be unsurprised to know that prior to this little number of theirs, they worked extensively on slot-type games… This explains why there are finely-tuned dopamine explosions going on in my brain when I’m playing this.
I’m reviewing this because I ultimately recommend it! And am doing so after I 100%’d the base game and its achievements. I bought Vampire Survivors on a whim (I mean, it’s only like $5 bucks), and I was glued until there was nothing left to do, so I’d say that’s a pretty good recommendation from me right off the bat, but let’s go a little deeper.
Gameplay
I haven’t really played anything quite like this, but a decent comparison is if you turned Risk of Rain 2 into a top-down pancake, you’d be pretty close. It has all the elements of a roguelite; you enter a stage, are presented with options to power your character up until you win or die, and as you play you earn currency that can be used outside of the general gameplay to permanently unlock more ways to play.
On paper, Vampire Survivors should actually sound pretty boring, because most of the game is automated. You don’t have to press an attack or ability button, those are done for you at fixed intervals. Most of the enemies will just systematically move toward you, perhaps to their death. The only input from you as the player is… moving. To collect XP gems to level up, and occasionally avoid enemies. You’ll also need to navigate level-up menus to select your desired weapon or item upgrade… But that’s it! In a lot of ways, I could see this being just one step above Cookie Clicker. You definitely need to pay attention to win but it’s still very passive, and if I’m being honest, it’s kind of shallow.
Though, don’t write it off yet because the real draw to Vampire Survivors is definitely within the systems they have in place and the element of discovery that goes along with it… there are many weapons, items, and artifacts to find, and you’ll discover early on that weapons will evolve with certain combinations of items. Some evolve with other weapons. Finding these combinations when you’re just starting to play is really fun, and a large reason why I came back to play at all. Finding an evolution for a weapon, then realizing it’s helping me kill HUNDREDS of enemies per SECOND with glorious visual flair… now… that’s satisfying. After that first one, I was like, “all right now I NEED to see what the rest of these are.”
It’s also incredibly approachable because of the level timer. Starting out, they restrict you to playing on each level for 30 minutes at a time. Which doesn’t sound like that long right? Easy to fit that in-between other games you’re playing. But maybe you die at the 20-minute mark. “Ah, I was almost there,” you’ll tell yourself. “I’ll just try that again.” And maybe the next time you make it to 25 minutes. Then you finally make it to the 30-minute mark. So now you’ve been playing for an hour and fifteen minutes and a new stage opens up and welp, you just gotta see what that level has in store for you… it’s a deep rabbit hole! And it’s paced very well, to the point where you always feel like you’re progressing towards the next unlock, and there’s always something to help the game not feel stale.
I should mention that once you’re comfortable knowing what all the weapons and evolutions are, you can start paying attention to the damage per second, or DPS of each weapon and weapon evolution, and you can really get into optimizing your character by carefully selecting what weapons and items you want, when you want them, and more to become virtually unkillable… even in endless mode (which becomes an option later on). This sounds tedious and you might not consciously do it, but the truth is, after playing so many times, you’ll learn what works for you. The gameplay won’t change… but you’ll be smarter and more thoughtful about your choices. Beating the game after you have an understanding of everything is a no-brainer, even on the harder difficulties. But again to reiterate, the path to that point is excellently paced and very well done.
In short, while the gameplay is pretty shallow, the several layered systems of collecting items, artifacts, characters, weapons, and more, combined with the fun weapon evolution system make exploring the stages and playing the game feel really fun and make it absolutely addicting.
Narrative and World Building
Is there a narrative? Maybe. I think it’s about people surviving a vampire apocalypse, but you could guess as much from the title. The truth is, I didn’t really care too much about the narrative or the world-building. There are descriptions for items, and for enemies, and there is a loose narrative that kind of unfolds in a linear fashion as you collect artifacts from stages and unlock new things to do… But it was never really something I felt needed my attention. The “gameplay” was enough to sell me on my many returns. The world-building rides a similar line. Everything feels cohesive enough… there are some enemy designs that feel a bit out of place, though it’s not distracting from the overall experience…
I will make a note that the finale to this game… after you find pretty much everything… there is a “final boss” of sorts and the visual spectacle of that moment is beyond incredible. If you don’t get the “Greatest Jubilee” achievement that comes from witnessing it… You are missing out! I highly recommend getting to that point, even if you have to look up what to do next to unlock it. The best advice I have is once you unlock something (a stage, a game mode), play that thing until you unlock the next thing. It is very much worth making it to the end to witness that visual spectacle. I guess you could just YouTube it… but still. Was perfect. Beautiful sequence.
Visuals and Performance
I ran this on my RTX 3070 + Ryzen 7 for most of the time and spent some time with it on Steam Deck as well. I didn’t run into any performance issues on either system. Well. There was one time I was doing an endless run, and I let the game sit for about 3 hours on my desktop. I came back and it was very sluggish. Probably had something to do with the sheer mass of gems and chests on the screen. It’s not really optimized for those truly endless runs I suppose. But, in general gameplay, never had issues.
Visually it’s not very stunning at first. Characters and enemies have basic “moving” animations, and beyond that everything kinda slides around on the screen… but once you start getting some of those evolved weapons, you start seeing these explosions everywhere, particles going haywire, knives simply exploding out of your character’s model faster than the speed of light… something very funny about that, makes it interesting, charming even. It’s the visual noise gamer equivalent to audio visualizers and I ain’t even mad.
Audio Design
Speaking of audio, the sounds in here are pretty good. Again, once you hit a certain level, the cacophony of explosions and magic sparkles can be a bit overwhelming, but it could definitely be worse. It could probably also be better. But I never found myself in the settings to tweak any of that.
The music on display here is pretty good. I did in fact get the game bundled with the soundtrack (because it was so dang cheap), but the truth is that I haven’t actually dove into the soundtrack outside of playing the game at all. It definitely services the game and helps to establish the “gothic horror” mood that the game is trying to vibe with, and I think helps to mask some of the craziness of the weapons to a certain degree. I particularly thought that the music in the finale did an exceptional job setting the cataclysmic mood there, but beyond that example, nothing really jumps out at me. Subtle and serviceable. Can’t ask for much more than that on an indie project!
Other Tidbits
Wasn’t sure where to say this, but for a game where the UI is very important to its core loop, it’s done really well. The text is legible with a good font, the selections make sense, and it scaled well to whatever screen size I had. It was also all pretty unified, which was nice, and I particularly enjoyed how pretty much everything was accessible right from the main menu screen.
It plays well on a controller as well as on a mouse and keyboard, though some weapons definitely favor playing with a controller. Not enough to make me want to plug one into my computer though. The game is simple enough that I didn’t feel the need to change any of the default control schemes or anything. Haven’t tried the new mobile port and I don’t plan to, but I can’t imagine the experience being too bad on a touchscreen because of its simplicity.
Conclusion
Ultimately, I consider this to be a Name Brand product, and I strongly recommend it! If you’ve spent time in idle games, or are perhaps drawn to roguelites or upgrade trees, and enjoy discovering weapons and abilities in those types of gaming experiences, this could very well be up your alley.
As I mentioned earlier, the biggest draw to this game is definitely its mechanics and the underlying “discover how to make larger numbers and explosions”, more so than the actual gameplay itself, which is probably the weakest thing about it, next to perhaps some bland animations and enemies.
I spent 49.3 hours in the game, which is an incredible amount for the price I spent, which was $6.99. This amount of time also includes how long it took me to get 100% of the (base game) achievements. When I got the last achievement, I did kind of see that as the end of my journey with the game, though now I can’t help but be interested in the $2 DLC that just released, so I’ll probably be jumping in once again to experience all it has to offer. Will definitely be looking to snag the achievements there, and I’ll post a follow-up review if I go through that.
But even without the DLC, the replayability value is insane as it stands, and I have really enjoyed my time with it. If you’re on the fence, I definitely recommend giving it a try, especially now that it’s more accessible than ever with its recently released mobile port.
Okay, thanks, and goodbye.